Agave fields. Beautiful scenery. Tequila. Love.

I have two things in this world to thank for finding my true love:

1. Coffee
2. Tequila

I’m sure personal choices, fate, some otherworldly force, etc. were also factors, but if he didn’t like one or both of those, there was no way it could have ever worked.

We have been long-time fans of tequila - before the celebrities started investing in it (and profiting from it), before it was cool to sip tequila instead of just shooting it, before Covid had us on lockdown and people started exploring the back of their liquor cabinets for new things to drink. 

As of today, we have about 150 bottles at home of mostly Añejo and Extra Añejo, but we also have various mezcals. Annually (3 years in a row), we host a Salsa Y Tequila Party with formal salsa judging. While most folks come to taste amazing salsas and to win the salsa competition, my real agenda is truly to introduce a new tequila to someone who ends up liking it. 

Mezcal and tequila, what's the difference? 

• Mezcal (The Category): Covers spirits made from over 30 types of agave across many Mexican states.
• Tequila (The Sub-category): Restricted to only one specific plant (Blue Agave) grown in designated regions.

Where am I going with this? We really really really like tequila. 

It was therefore natural for us to want to visit the town of Tequila, the magical place that produces the elixir that allowed our love to blossom and grow. We had been wanting to hop on a tequila train for a while now and when we were invited to a wedding in Guadalajara (January 2026, thanks for the invite David/Janet), we decided to also take the opportunity to visit Tequila. 

Living in San Diego, we have the luxury of being able to cross the border by foot into Tijuana airport. We complete customs / immigration steps during the crossing, then from Tijuana airport, we can hop on a plane and travel within Mexico without having to deal with it when we land. 

From Guadalajara (which deserves its own post at some point), we had a couple of options for tequila trains: José Cuervo Express or Tequila Express (previously named Herradura Express). There were strong arguments for both - José Cuervo offered a full experience, and Tequila Express offered a train ride to and from the final destination. We chose José Cuervo because the final destination was the town of Tequila, while the Tequila Express ends in Amatitán (a neighboring town credited as being the birthplace of reposado).

We met at the José Cuervo warehouse in Guadalajara, were given wrist bands, and hopped on a bus to start the tour. We passed various agave farms along the way and the overcast morning set a sort of romantic stage for the experience.

We stopped at Campos de Agave José Cuervo, where we were fed some pretty good tamales (3 different kinds!) and had unlimited margaritas…at 10am in the morning.

Though drinking tequila is a big part of the tour, the experience also included some educational aspects. We got a demonstration of how the agaves are harvested. It’s still a very manual process and requires expert jimadores to use a coa de jima (big, round-bladed knife with a long handle) to take the spikes off the agave and expose the piña. And of course, we were given another margarita - in a sippy cup! We reboarded the bus and headed to Tequila.

When we arrived in Tequila, we entered an auditorium to do tastings of various Jose Cuervo tequilas. We were supposed to be able to enter the factory, but due to a conflicting event, we weren’t able to go in. We were given tickets to a museum and a guided tour instead. Again, the goal of the tour is a full experience, not just to get blacked out drunk (though it is easy given the generous access to tequila).

We had a couple of hours to have lunch in the town of Tequila and wander around. It was great to see all the different tequila brands and their family restaurants. It’s a charming town.

As part of the tour, we visited various parts of Fábrica La Rojeña, the oldest active distillery in Latin America and the historic home of José Cuervo tequila. We saw: raw agave pinas being processed, the copper pot stills used for purification, and the rooms where the tequila are aged in barrels.

For me, the highlight was the underground private cellar, where they age their extra añejo tequila. For generations, the Cuervo family kept these special tequila reserves hidden away, sharing them only with family and close friends. This is also where they store the unique bottles that the extra añejo batches come in, which are packed in hand-painted wooden boxes designed by contemporary Mexican artists. It’s rumored that some tequilas in the cellar are over 100 years old!

When we were done with the tour, we were led back to the auditorium where we got more margaritas and a show. But the next part of the experience - this is the part that we had been waiting for - the actual tequila train! 

We booked the Elite wagon and wow, it was gorgeous. The service and food/drinks were spectacular: we got fed way more than we needed, the drinks kept coming, and in addition to cocktails, they poured tequila neat in champagne glasses. We’re not talking about cheap Cuervo - we had top shelf Reserva de la Familia across the range, from blanco, repo, añejo, and extra añejo. We had a great time!

We ate and drank to our heart’s content while the sun dramatically set against the backdrop of agaves and mountains.

We were so happy to have finally visited Tequila; the José Cuervo experience elevated the trip. And without tequila, I wouldn’t have the best travel partner to do this with, which is really what makes all this extra special :)